Every year I've been meaning to go to BICS (the British (previously Birmingham) International Comics Show) and every year I've had to cancel my plans as something work-related took over. This year was different - despite the fact that two extra days of drawing would be very useful indeed right now, I had a book to sell and a table-share with Accent UK - I couldn't miss it.

Elyssa and I left early on Saturday morning, hoping to reach Birmingham for 10 am, but that plan went pear-shaped after a body was found on the M40 and a section of the road was shut. Somehow we got lost along the diversion and ended up at Brum's Millennium Point at just before midday. Thank heavens for the sat-nav though!

I was on the end of Colin Mathieson and Dave West's Accent UK table (choc-full of their lovely comics), and with my two new display stands had quite a nice little set-up, with just enough space to sign and sketch in books. And sign and sketch in books is what I spent pretty much the entire weekend doing, which doesn't make for a very exciting report, I'm afraid.

As ever, it was really nice to catch up with so many comic friends, old and new. The biggest surprise of the weekend was meeting Alex Bardy from my old fanzine days. We probably hadn't been in touch since the late 80s or early 90s, and it was he who accepted my first fanzine art submission, a cover for Cerebretron (his science fiction fanzine), which encouraged me to become a fairly prolific illustrator for several other publications too.

I don't want to start a long list of people I spoke to, because I always forget someone and feel awful about it later, but I will mention my table-mates of the weekend - besides Colin and Dave, there was the very talented Andy Bloor (master of shadows!) and Jason Cobley, who has several titles you should look out for from Classical Comics (Dracula with Staz Johnson looks stunning). I was also next to Ben Dickson who is always good company (you have read Falling Sky haven't you?). Having seen a few other BICS reports and photos now, I see there were so many other people I know and should have said hello to, but didn't see them all weekend. It seems silly when the show basically just consists of two (big) rooms, but that's the way these things go.

Elyssa and I stayed at the Britannia Hotel, a place whose glory days are long-past. We were on the ninth floor in a room that looked as though it had been the site of a violent brawl (gouges out of the wall, heavily chipped furniture) and with no windows, so come the morning it was still pitch black. It was a comfortable bed for the night though.

Sunday was a bit slower (which was quite nice actually), but I still made sales throughout the day. I also had my brother's new publication, Alice at R'lyeh, selling all of them by the end of the show (you can buy a copy here).

Overall, I enjoyed the weekend. It reminded me of the old UKCACs in London, quite a traditional comics show. It was great to talk face to face with so many people about The Rainbow Orchid and to hear what others are doing too, though a shame I was unable to go for a wander myself (I especially wanted to see Bryan Talbot's talk on Grandville). Apologies to those I missed or only managed brief conversations with. Most of all - thank you very much if you bought a copy of The Rainbow Orchid - the interest and response was terrific.